St Mary's to Host Seminar on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

The BSc Sociology and Criminology programme and the Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery at St Mary’s University, Twickenham is hosting a seminar by Bernie Gravett, Senior EU expert on Human Trafficking and Combatting International Organised Crime on Thursday 4th February 2016. Mr Gravett was a Police Superintendent with the Metropolitan Police for 31 years prior to becoming a senior EU expert in combatting transnational organised crime and trafficking in human beings, the Europol AWF Intelligence system and an accredited Eurojust expert on Joint Investigation Teams and Mutual Legal Assistance. Throughout the seminar, Mr Gravett will be discussing the wider topics associated with human trafficking including modern forms of trafficking and slavery, the roles of Europol and Eurojust and the Palermo protocol, EC Directive 36/2001 and the Modern Slavery Act 2005. The seminar will feature a case study, which will outline Mr Gravett’s involvement in coordinating Europe’s largest human trafficking investigation, Operation Golf, which targeted child trafficking gangs across the UK and Romania. An investigation that lead to the prosecution of over 130 members of criminal networks. Mr Gravett has since coordinated ‘Operation Inspector’ with the Bulgarian Police, advised the Home Office, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on organised crime, trafficking of human beings and Romanian organised crime. Programme Director of Criminology and Sociology Dr Carole Murphy said “The Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery is delighted to welcome Mr Gravett to St Mary’s to speak about his experiences of policing human trafficking across Europe and sharing his expertise on European and UK policy”. The seminar is free to attend and will take place on Thursday 4th February 2016 at 13:00 in The Waldegrave Drawing Room. For more information on the seminar and to book a place please click here.